Unknown Factors
by glass sugar2.0
Summary: Revision in the works...just some drabble I wrote while insane...
1. Unknown Factors 1

_Unknown Factors I_

_By Wandering Xanthe_

"I'm bored," said Dizzy. She looked around the room. Rico was sitting there, angsting over Carmen. Carl was reading. Gossard was napping. Higgins was tinkering with his camera. Doc was doing some research on a laptop. Brutto was scowling at the stars. Razack was in conference with Redwing.

"I'm bored," she said again.

"Fighting has been low Gene, too low. My superiors think the bugs are up to something."

"What does this have to do with my men?" asked Lt. Razack.

"We've sent several squads to unexplored planets to look for…well, anything. You will be joining Lt. Michael Parker," she said, handing him a digital clipboard. "His squad, the Pack, consists of Sgt. Noah Keegan, Private Demi Berdeux, Private David Thompson, Private Anthony Perelli, Private Lei Wen, and two Enforcer veterans, Corpral Dawn Romanova and Private Kurt Schultz."

"Enforcers? Wasn't that the squad that was wiped out on that recon mission two months ago?"

"Yes. Romanova, Wagner, and another trooper were the only survivors." Redwing got up to leave. "You have one hour to prepare your men, Gene. Good luck." They saluted and she was gone. Razack looked down at the clipboard as he walked back to the Roughnecks' barracks.

"Psychic!"

"ETA in five minutes." The pilot's voice broke into the silence of the carrier. There had been no jokes, no complaining, no nothing. There was no reason to. They would land, meet this other squad, and do whatever it was they had to do, then get back to the war. When they reached the surface of the planet, they found themselves in front of what looked like a giant green and black trailer that sat at the edge of the jungle.

"Sir, the trees." At Carl's warning, everyone looked toward the shaking leafy masses.

"What is it?" whispered Razack.

"Humans and something else…" He didn't get to finish his sentence for at that moment, four troopers exploded from the thick foliage, followed by… a thing.

"Shields up!" one of the troopers screamed and as the creature leapt at them, an invisible force met it. It went down hard and after a few seconds, it got up, hissed, and ran back the way it came.

"Roman, that was too close," said a trooper from the ground as he panted from exhaustion. The one he had called 'Roman' helped him up before coming to attention in front of Razack.

"Lt. Razack," she said, "Corpral Romanova, Sigma squad."

"At ease. Where is Lt. Parker?"

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped and turned back toward the jungle. "He's right there, sir."

Lt. Parker and three other troopers emerged from the trees. He deactivated the shield before he strode over to the Roughnecks. The last of his men verbally put the shield up behind him. Parker and Razack stood apart from their squads to discuss L.T. stuff (I'm not good at that sort of thing so I'll skip it). As they made their way into the trailer, Carl wondered what the thing that had attacked them was.

'_A mangler,'_ came a voice inside his head. He mentally looked about the small briefing room they were in and found the person who had answered him. It was Romanova. Her helmet was off and her long black hair came down her back in a braid. Her ice blue eyes twinkled and she smiled.

'_You're psychic,'_ he "said" to her and she nodded. He turned his attention back to what the two lieutenants who were explaining the situation.

'_My name's Dawn. What's yours?' _He could not ignore the soft, friendly voice as it gently nudged at his mind.

'_Carl.' _She "said" no more but Carl knew she would talk to him later.

The briefing was short. The Pack had been sent on a recon mission. They found manglers, reptile-like creatures that were just as lethal as warrior bugs. The Roughnecks' mission was to assist the Pack and bring back specimens. Cake, right? As introductions were made, Carl scanned the team for reactions.

Most of them were eager to get on with the mission and the war.

_**Author's notes:** The setting is a oxygen-rich tropical planet that I have yet to name so the troopers do not wear power suits. Enjoy._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roughnecks: STC. The Pack is mine._


	2. Unknown Factors 2

_Unknown Factors II_

_By Wandering Xanthe_

"So what's that?" Higgins had his camera rolling as he talked to the pack's resident doctor.

"It's a machine SICON gave us to test. It's used to test brain vitals, mostly for psychics.

"Can the Corporal hear me?"

"Yes, I can." The camera swiveled to the young woman strapped onto the vertical backboard, a small patch on each side of her head. Demi smiled.

"What's all that?" he asked, pointing to the many markings on the small screen of the console.

"It's her neural patterns. At that moment, Gossard, Jenkins, Doc, Kurt and came in. "The ones on the top are her brain waves and psychic patterns. Several troopers have similar brain waves, usually during battle, but no one in the world has those psychic patterns. They're her own special code, like finger prints." A loud beeping began to sound.

"Ten minutes left," Dawn said, her eyes shut tight. Demi quickly tapped a series of commands and cut off the machine. Kurt was unstrapping Dawn from the backboard as Gossard inspected the machine.

"Why do you need a timer?" asked Doc.

"The machine can only be used for thirty minutes."

"What happens if you go over that?"

"Well, the first psychic who did that went into a coma and died." There was an awkward silence.

"Anyone hungry?" asked Dawn, "We have to review mangler data and I suggest you eat first 'less you have a strong stomach."

Everyone murmured an agreement and they made their way to the mess hall. Carl was the last to leave. He wasn't surprised that SICON would use a potentially deadly device on its own soldiers but he found it disturbing just the same. When he turned to leave, Dawn was leaning against the door. 'Why didn't I sense her?' he asked himself angrily, carefully masking his thoughts from his fellow mind reader who smiled almost shyly.

"I'm used to people being afraid of me but you…" She held her hand out to him. "Perhaps we should start over?"

'No rank,' she said mentally.

"I'm Dawn Romanova. My friends call me Roman for short. I'm a level four psychic who wishes she was level two again. I'm also the Pack's resident techie."

A smile slowly crept its way across Carl's face. "Name's Carl Jenkins. I'm from Buenos Aries and I'm also a level four psychic. I'm the Roughneck's resident freak." Dawn laughed and shook his hand. As she moved to the door, she didn't let go. "Come on before Flash eats all the crap we call food."

"What the heck is this?" Dizzy asked as she poked the brown substance.

"Just another of SICON's science projects to test on us," said Dawn. "It's made of proteins and vitamins and no artificial flavorings." Dizzy stopped her fork before it reached her mouth and made a face.

"Thank you Ms. Wizard," said Flash. A kick to the shin followed his remark. He glared at Dawn. "I'm not sitting across from you anymore."

'You don't have a choice,' she silently told him, referring to the compact mass hall.

'Stay the f# out my head!'

'Quit shouting, pansy.' And before he could retort, she put a soundproof barrier around her mind, leaving Flash to rant at himself.

"…and as you can see, the claws on its forearms are very sharp and very effective."

The Roughnecks stared at the grizzly images, mouths agape.

"Who filmed this?" The question was asked by a nervous Higgins. The Pack exchanged uneasy glances.

"Our former journalist, the late Adrian Darwin." Higgins gulped.

Carl saw and felt Dawn's mood change.

'What's wrong?'

'We don't talk about Adrian much. Too many memories.' He could feel the sadness within her. Reaching out to comfort her, his mind almost brushed against hers before he thought better of it. Despite their introduction he barely knew her. He just smiled and they returned their attention to Demi.

_**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Roughnecks or anything having to do with Starship Troopers._


	3. Unknown Factors 3

_Unknown Factors III_

_By Wandering Xanthe_

**Author's Notes:** The first part is from Higgins' point of view and then Carl's. Enjoy!

The best thing about our time on Vermilion, the blue planet that looked a little too much like Earth, was the sleep. On the Valley Forge, you get about two hours worth of nightmares. But on the planet we were sharing with Sigma squad, a.k.a. the Pack, sleep was about four hours longer and the nightmares seemed to appear less often. Of course, extra sleep meant extra labor. But now, there were two squads. Less work, right? Wrong.

On our first actual mission, we were to collect a mangler egg. Sure, the manglers weren't our enemies. They usually stayed away from us unless we were in our territory. The attack on the day of our arrival had been a rare one and it was only because of the Pack's attempt to take the mangler's egg. But with the lull in the fighting, Sicon was curious and decided to give the squads something to do.

After a friendly wake-up call from Dawn, a delicious Sicon breakfast made by Demi, and a rousing pep talk by our CO's, we were split into two teams and let loose into the jungle.

I was on Lt. Razak's team. Go figure. You'd think he'd get rid of me the first chance he got. So our Blue team went east and Parker's Red went west. At first it was fine. The lieutenant was leading with Brutto, Doc, and Wen flanking him while I was in the middle, filming Dizzy and Dawn who took up the rear. It was cool how the Corpral could hold a conversation and scan the area as well. Cool but…scary in a way. Just when I wondered if she could hear me thinking, she looked at me and winked.

A little freaked out, I turned around and was able to catch Brutto in one of his Sarge moments as he tripped over a log and continued to slide down the inclined ground on the wet leaves. Doc made a grab for him and would have lost his footing as well if Wen hadn't intervened. Filming the rescue, I didn't even notice Dawn's face screw up in heavy concentration.

"Sir, mangler's."

"How close are they?"

There was a deep silence that was shattered by an eerie and inhuman scream.

"Too close."

This doesn't fell right. Sure I'm with Johnny and I can "talk" to Dawn if something happens to our radios but…something just doesn't feel right. I sensed some manglers but they were a long way off so they couldn't be the cause of it. That familiar yet alien feeling tugging at the back of my mind... Suddenly I was ripped from my thoughts by Dawn's voice in my head. She's got a nice voice. Soft and lyrical when she's speaking and warm and personal when she's using telepathy, kind of comforting, really. Even now, when she's alerting me to Blue team's new situation, her voice is calm and flowing, almost as if the news were an afterthought.

Once again my thoughts were interrupted when Razak's voice came over Parker's radio.

"We'll be there in five. Over."

"Roger. Over and out."

"All right," Parker said as we turned around, "Blue team needs backup and we're gonna give it to them. Manglers aren't the enemy so shock sticks and tranqs only."

"But sir," began Johnny, "they are attacking the squad. Doesn't that label them as the enemy?"

"Negative. We're on their home turf and are attempting to take some of their kids. They're simply defending. What they don't know is that once Intel's done with their little observations, they'll send the manglers back home. With minimal human contact they'll retain their wild streak and instincts."

"What I wanna know is how they even know what Blue team is up to." Said Gossard as he looked at his navigation device. "They haven't reached Mangler Country yet. The manglers shouldn't be a factor yet."

No one had an answer but each person mulled over the Roughneck's question as we raced to help our squad mates.

**AN:** Well? Too short? Too pointless? I felt really bad about neglecting all of my writing for so long and I just had to get the story moving again. However, I did manage to compose a story centered on Carl and Dawn. But it happens after this and although it doesn't have spoilers, I'm still not sure about submitting it without finishing 'Unknown Factors'. What do you think?

Anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing and not flaming me. I really appreciate the support I've gotten on and off line.


	4. Drabble: Reloaded

**Reloaded**

A/N: I so wanted to write something. Anything. And this is what I got. Pointless conversation between three of my original characters. Go figure.

Disclaimer: The main characters of this drabble are my own original ones. However, Gundum Wing's Duo Maxwell and Starship Troopers/Roughnecks: STC's Carl Jenkins are not mine. Pity.

* * *

In the vast landscape that was the right lobe of one fan fiction writer'smind, a voice pierced the white noise of daily creative chatter…

"Been a long road to follow. Been there and gone tomorrow…" resonated a melodious voice.

"…Are the memories I hold still valid? Oh have the tears delude-"

"That's right, give her more to disclaim."

"…I'm sorry?"

"As if she hasn't got enough to do, you go off, singing _that_ song, which doesn't even belong to her."

"But she put it on repeat for, like, two hours!"

The source of the voice's interruption gave no sign of sympathy and continued to voice her disapproval.

"But she's got school work to do. She doesn't need to be distracted by that song or your story," she said, flicking a hand reflexively through golden hair.

"But it synchs so well with her story." Spoke a quiet voice.

Both figures turned their attention to the new arrival, a smile of satisfaction on one face and a look of pique on the other.

"You always take her side," the blonde said, though her words held less heat than they implied.

"A soldier's prerogative," the mellow voice said vaguely. Casually leaning against the ethereal surface of her mental abode, she observed her companions with only a hint of amusement. "Anyway, my tale is complete. And as I've only you two for company, I might as well pick a side. To make it interesting."

The blonde's pique immediately melted away and she smiled smugly at the laconic red head.

"Oh, things will get interesting. For us and for you. And anyone else that happens to stop by."

Blue eyes blinked owlishly at the blonde for some time before narrowing.

"Tell me you're joking."

"You're the psychic."

"But she hasn't even finished our stories yet! In fact, she's completely unraveled them and placed us in revision limbo!"

"Writer's prerogative," said the blonde, pointedly mocking the scarlet haired soldier who no longer reclined casually but stood instead.

"And what of me?" she asked.

"A sequel," the blonde said with elfin delight in her eyes. "Title changes and character revisions for us, a sequel for you, and story arcs for the new arrivals," she said, pointing over the rebel pilot's shoulder.

Wrapping her thick, ebony braid around her hand as she processed the new information, the blue eyed psychic tilted her head, a thought occurring to her.

"Where's the wolf girl?"

"Out and about," answered the blonde.

"How do you know this? I'm the psychic."

"As I said." This only produced a frown on the aforementioned psychic's face.

"I'm more privy to the ins and outs of the place because my story's much more complete than yours. She's already revised two of my chapters and has only revised your title and characters. You'll return to your usual clairvoyant self once you become clearer to her," the blonde answered sagely.

For a time, silence prevailed.

"I'm bored," the special operations agent murmured.

"Go fight a war."

"Thanks, but no."

Another moment of silence passed. Music filtered through consciousness. The landscape shifted, almost unnoticeably.

"I hope she gets the romance right," piped up the blue eyed trooper.

"I was most satisfied with 'Spat'."

"I'm sure you were," said the young dragon, a teasing grin on her face.

"…"

Two hours later…

"She lost the wolf girl?"

"I'm not surprised. She couldn't decide on a name for her, so naturally, she's less tangible without a name."

"Poor thing's gone MIA."

"She'll pop upAnyway, we have more pressing matters."

"And that would be?"

"Mary Sue-ness."

"God, no."

"Yes. It's been on the Maker's mind for days. It's her prime motivation for revising our stories and the reason for your sequel's delay."

"I am not a Mary Sue. I didn't even like Duo when I first met him."

"Calm down, Red. I know you're not. You know you're not. And I'm pretty sure She knows you're not. Which is why she's not stressing out on you as much as she is us."

"But someone already said you weren't a Mary Sue," the psychic said. "That must mean that I'm the Mary Sue! Now I'll never be able to know carnal bliss with Carl!" The last had her nearly in tears.

"Chill. If you were a Mary Sue, you aren't now. You're brand spankin' new now, with a new name and new duties."

"New duties? But she can't take my powers from me! That'd be like ripping my spine out!"

"Eww…"

"And I love being a technician! It gives me something to do rather than worry about everyone. And sniping is therapeutic! I don't care if Flash can do it too, I'm better…"

"Whoa. See. This is why you've been busted to a simple field psychic. Too much stress. Konrad will handle the machinery and Flash will be your squad's best marksman. You've got to make the boy useful for more than a migraine."

The psychic formerly known as Dawn Romanova mulled her compatriot's words over, brightening as she realized the wisdom in them.

"I see. This way, I'll have more time for RR and saving my sanity! Damn psychic boot camp…"

A sleek auburn eye brow arched itself before green eyes averted to the blonde demi- dragon.

"This is what happens when your story's theme song is played on repeat for several hours for brainstorming purposes," the blonde said, answering the red head's unvoiced question.

"Well then, should we…"

"Oh yes," she said, turning back to the psychic. "Dawn…er…Donatella, we'll leave you to the…er, sorting of your feelings and stuff. Me and Red are gonna go look for that Anita Blake girl."

"I bet SICON's got her…" muttered the psychic.

"Right. Well, ta."

The two figures meandered off into the distance, leaving the trooper to her identity crisis.

"So, how did you handle all the music in _your_ fic?"

"Well, it was always at the beginning and rarely in the actual story."

"Ah. And the name change?"

"She hasn't exactly addressed that. But I suppose it's only a matter of time before I'm a muttering puddle of paranoia, reliving my own traumatic conditioning."

"You and the rest of the world."

* * *

just-in-cases: The main characters speaking are Angel, Nora, and Dawn (soon to be Donatella) from my Gundum Wing, Gargoyles, and Roughnecks: STC stories. The red head is Angel, the blonde is Nora, and the psychic is Dawn. And if you didn't know this, shame on you and go read my stories (or what's left of them).

It's after 1 in the morning and my mind has gone wandering. If you see it, tell it I'm lookin' for it.


End file.
